The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-08-12
TROPHIES OF THE WAR.
A GLANCE AT THE CAPTURED CON-
FeDERATe FLAGS.
Story Told by the Emblcms OF a Lost
of Tattcrs-iiow tho Flags Are Kept


Carried by an elevator five stories up,
Under the roof OF the war department,
almost burning in this Washington sum
Der weather. the key being turned by my
guide in the door Of an attic room stood
an instant later in a little space hardly
more than ten feet square, nearly within
reaching distance on all sides of these bat
tered momentOs Of the war, the very men
ton Of which has set afre the hearts Of
GO. 900. coo Of people--a few rags saturated
with the explosive wash Of patriotism!
But the first thought on seeing them in
this pcnt up space Of attic is Of the small
ness Of the cause to the size Of the effect
The flags hcaped about the room appear
at first sight only a handful at the most,
but counted separately there are 100 in
all, over 800 Of them being Confederate
and the remainder Federal flags rcCaptured
from their captOrs one half Of the entire
number are attached 10 their slaves as
they were originally taken. the flags OF
the two sections being stacked in separate
masses AGAINST two sides Of the rOOm
facing the other half folded and protrud-
ing from pigeon holes on the opposite walls
The sight of the Stars and Stripes keeps
ALWAYS familiar But the first look az the
dark red heap Of the banners Of the rebel
lion. piled here against the side Of the at
tic, blOts out twenty five years from the
memory and brings back as If il were
yesterday the red years when they waved
at the head Of their regiments. There is
hardly flag among them all that has not
its history recorded in the book in the
hands of the keeper Of the room. All
nearly are riddled with bullets, and many,
like those carried through such battles as
the Wilderness and the second Bull Run,
were shot literally into tatters and almost
unrecognizable sprays Of rag.
50 A SIGNIFICANT CONTRAST.
The contrast in the appearance of the
southern and Union standards is signif-
cant of the history Of the war The latter
are rugged Oh clean, polished poles and
are OF firm, rich material many of them
Of silk showing an abundance in the
north Of the fabrics Of which they cOntin-
ued TO be made The majority Of the
Confederate flags are of the wretchedest
sh0ddy bunting, miserable in color as in
substance, while great numbers Of them
are mounted on rude, Embarked gads and
saplings, hastily cut from the woods on
the march-rccalling the blockade and the
pinching DAYS when war had fallen on n
. section without manufactures, and the
intense desperate purpose Of people for
Z got scemliness and absorbed every thought
but the winning Of their fight
Many Of the flags lying folded i'm the
= boxes and taken ont TO be exhibited by
= the guardian of the room recall still more
fviydly the narrow straits of rebellion on
It's last legs, being literally independent Of
discrimination in color and made Of
patches from wOmcn's dresses and under
skirts Of nearly every hue and material
pitfu reminders Of the Spartan poverty
md courage that were still to fail Of their
end. There are some exceptions, however,
i'm this stOrcrOOm Of battle trophies 10 these
mOmentOs of the sterncr days Of the war
for the south The attendant drew from
the pigeon holes on the walls and unf0lded
for my inspection three or four magni-
rent banners Of heavy silk, fringcd with
tasscls Of gold and Ornamcnted with
pictures ina oil and rich cmbrOdcrings on
field Of blue These flags represent the
early aud halcyOn days of the lost cause,
when they were made by local ass0cia-
tons OF ladies and presented TO the mill
tary organizations which carried them
one of those flags belonged 10 the Appa-
lachicola guard, whose name is stitched
i'm gold letters on its fold above the eX-
ultant notices: In God is Our Trust!'
"Our Rights We VIII Maintain" The
finest of them all is the banner presented
by the ladies OF Norfolk TO the Norfolk
Light artillery with an oil portrait Of
Washington I'm the center Of its field, the
mottocs on the reverse side being the same
rs those of the flag inst described.
LUXURY IN DESIGNS.
The days when the Confederate armies
ronld afford such luxury in ensgns
quickly passed away, however, as is cyi-
donced by the collection, representing
every period of the war. In the begin
ming Of the civil war the design of the flag
carried 10y the southern regiments wan
that Of the Stars and Bars-two red bars
and one white-changiug at later period
TO a red field with the Southern Cross. re
sembling the British Union Jack. A
study of the record kept 10y the war de
partmcnt of the name and capture of each
Of these flags, though work Of days,
would De of intense interest 20 the veteran
soldier. Ii would recall To him the cpl
sodcs Of triumph on half the fields of the
civil war fhe sight of the flags them
ktiNtr NNNll 40 NblllttuAll- liNiN lAi'
enug his heart beats with memories Of
the great G-ht That not a few of these
standards have been the centcrs Of deadly
personal encounter is evident from the
numerous blood stains still traceable upon
them The slaves, also, of many of them
are ragged with the gnaw of bullets, the
lead in some Instances piercing their cen
tiers and remaining imheddedin the wood.
Everything in fact in the appearance Of
the whole collection. as IL is piled here in
the narrow garrett, faded and soied and
tattcrcd. shows that these are no banners
Of holiday parade, but have passed through /
the fire and extremity of actual war-the /
sorrowiul weeds blasted and fallen from /
o. wrath For myself, not "a soldier, but /
resident Of Washington during the war
period, | recalled the stirring incidents of /
their presentation to the war department /
a. they were brought straight from the /
fields Of their capture
On one of these occasions thirty of these /
standards, as / remember, were carried /
here two days after the fight al Wnchcs
ter by delegation of soldiers whose hands +
had nctuai1v seized them i'm the fight /